14 Russian athletes test positive at Beijing Games

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) stated on Tuesday the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had informed them that 14 of the country’s athletes have been suspected of doping during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Including those suspect of doping is Olympic high jump champion Anna Chicherova, after her coach Yevgeny Zagorulko told Russian news agency Tass that Chicherova had been notified of a failed test.

“Three days ago, Anna received a notice that her doping sample from the Beijing Olympics tested positive after a re-check and she called me,” Zagorulko said.

The ROC confirmed they had received the “respective documents” from the IOC showing a number of prominent individuals, majority of them track and field athletes, had recorded adverse analytical findings.

“14 Russian athletes in three disciplines gave a positive result,” the ROC said in a statement, before adding it would not name the suspected athletes before their secondary ‘B’ samples were tested and disciplinary proceedings started.

A sum of 31 athletes from six sports who were likely to compete at this summer’s forthcoming gams in Rio were implicated in the IOC’s findings, which came after 454 samples from 2008 were retested using current technology.

12 National Olympic Committees, including Russia, were affected and the full details of all athletes implicated in the findings will be revealed and confirmed in the coming weeks.

Russia’s athletics federation said in a statement on Tuesday that it would not allow athletes who had been caught doping in previous years into the Russian team for the Rio Olympics.